Adrian Hedden | Alamogordo News
Flights to and from El Paso International Airport were resuming Wednesday morning as federal officials appeared to blame drug cartels for the airport’s temporary closure the night before.
It started at 11:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 10 when the airport posted on its Instagram account “flyelp” that it was suspending all flights to and from El Paso until 11:30 p.m., Feb. 20.
The post cited a “flight restriction” issued by the Federal Aviation Administration and asked travelers to contact airlines for updates on their flight status.
No details were given at that time as to the cause of the closure, and subsequent posts from the federal government over the next 24 hours provided scant details. The Federal Aviation Administration did not respond to a request for comment.
El Paso International Airport is the main air travel facility in far west Texas and southwest New Mexico. It is frequently used by rural communities throughout the entire southern region of the state, towns such as Carlsbad, Artesia, Alamogordo and Ruidoso.
The closest major airport, the Albuquerque International Sunport is about 270 miles north.
The FAA took to X at about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning to report a closure of the airspace over El Paso was lifted and that there was “no threat to commercial aviation.”
That was retweeted by U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy who in his own tweet appeared to point to a “cartel drone incursion” at the airport.
Duffy went on to write in the tweet that the “threat was neutralized,” crediting the FAA and U.S. Department of War for the response, which he said meant there was “no danger” to commercial travel in the region.
At about 8 a.m. Wednesday, the airport posted again to its Instagram account, a message from District El Paso City Councilor Christ Canales, reporting the Administration lifted the flight restriction and that all flights were resuming.
Canales in the post admitted that details were scarce and said that more would be shared when made available.
“There are still a lot of missing details, but I’m glad people can get where they need to go,” read the post. “I’ll keep sharing more information as I learn more.”
Minutes later, the airport posted its own message to the account, noting TSA, Transportation Security Administration screenings were resuming and that all restrictions at the airport were lifted.
In the wake of closure and reopening, U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM) in an emailed statement Wednesday morning called on the federal administration to explain the closure and provide more detail as to potential safety problems at the airport.
“Keeping our communities informed and safe is critical,” read the statement. “I’m demanding answers from the FAA and the administration about why the airspace was closed in the first place without notifying appropriate officials, leaving travelers to deal with unnecessary chaos.”